Role of 4 men in Kim Chol's assassination revealed in court

Police investigating officer Assistant Superintendent Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz in his testimony also described the alleged roles of the men, who are still at large, in the assasination at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2). (pix by ROSLIN MAT TAHIR)

SHAH ALAM: The four men allegedly involved in the murder of North Korean Kim Chol were finally named in court as trial into the Feb 13 assassination entered its eighth day today.

Police investigating officer Assistant Superintendent Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz in his testimony also described the alleged roles of the men, who are still at large, in the assasination at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2).

He told the court that both Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, identified the men who were mentioned in the charge sheet as Mr Chang, James, Mr Y and Hanamori @ Grandpa/Uncle during interrogation.

"The first accused (Siti Aisyah) gave the names of Mr Chang, James, Mr Y, and Hanamori, who is also known as Grandpa/Uncle... The second accused

(Doan) also provided the same names," he said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin.

Azirul, who was attached to the Sepang district police headquarters, said that one of the men named by the accused had recruited Siti Aisyah, while the others played different roles including putting VX nerve agent used in the murder onto Siti Aisyah and Doan's hands.

Wan Shaharuddin then referred to a video of a CCTV footage labelled as DVD 1.

Azirul : In this video, accused Doan is walking with a man who is wearing a black T-shirt.. the man is said to be Mr Y.

Wan Shaharuddin : What is Mr Y's role?

Azirul : He is the individual who put liquid on to the second accused's (Doan) hand. He is also the one who bought a taxi ticket for the

first accused (Siti Aisyah).

Azirul said another man said to be Mr Chang, who was featured in one of the airport CCTV footages screened in the courtroom acted as the person who put liquid onto Siti Aisyah's hand.

He said Hanamori had acted as the person who gave out instructions to Mr Y, while James played the role of recruiting Siti Aisyah.

Earlier, the hearing saw defence counsel for Siti Aisyah, Gooi Soon Seng, objecting to the tendering of a photocopy of Kim Chol's passport as evidence in court.

Gooi said the absence of the original document meant that the photocopy, which is secondary evidence, could not be verified.

The trial yesterday saw the prosecution introducing three more witnesses, including head of Chemistry Department's Forensics DNA unit, Nor Aidora Saedon.

Aidora, 44, the 10th witness, said DNA profile from blood sample taken from a sanitary pad, which was among other evidence handed over to her by Azirul, matched the contact DNA taken from Doan's pullover.

She told the court that analysis on a scarf belongs to Siti Aisyah, however, did not find the accused's DNA due to DNA degradation.

The expert witness said there were several factors that could have led to DNA degradation, such as being exposed to extreme humidity.

After Aidora, the prosecution called in two police photographers as the 11th and 12th witnesses. Both were attached to the Sepang district police headquarters.

Corporal Mohd Nordin Mohd Zain testified that he took a total of 134 photographs during the post-mortem of the deceased at Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Feb 15.

Lance Corporal Ali Imran Rifin said he captured a total of five photographs during the day of the incident, including the crime scene and belongings of the victim.

On March 1, Siti Aisyah and Doan were charged along with four others at large with murdering Kim Chol, 45. at klia2 about 9am on Feb 13.

Kim Chol was claimed to be Kim Jong-nam who was the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Hearing before judge Datuk Azmi Ariffin continues on Oct 24 with a site visit to klia2.